About

Koba Should Be In Every Movie refers to a Photoshop trend that took off on Twitter / X in May 2024. The meme features images of the bonobo (also called a pygmy chimpanzee, which is an ape and not a monkey) character Koba from Planet of the Apes edited into scenes from various popular films. The memes were shared ahead of the release of the film Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes in 2024.

Origin

Koba is the main antagonist of the film Dawn of the Planet of the Apes in which he is depicted as a human-hating dictator of an ape colony waging war on a nearby group of humans.^[2]

On May 9th, 2024, X^[1] user @jbromovies posted, "Koba should be in every movie," gathering over 10,000 likes and 2,000 retweets. The post set off a Photoshop Battle on the site, with people editing Koba into scenes from different movies.

The earliest known edit to emerge from the post is a May 9th post by X^[3] user @dishhsoap, depicting a menacing Koba looming behind Cillian Murphy in Oppenheimer. The post gathered over 17,000 likes in five days (seen below).

Spread

On May 9th, 2024, X^[4] user @AdelTseTung posted an edit featuring Koba in the film Past Lives_, gathering over 2,000 likes in five days (seen below, top). Also on May 9th, X^[5] user @Shame_Memory's edit of Koba in The Holdovers gathered over 20,000 likes in five days (seen below, bottom).

More edits of Koba emerged online in subsequent days, with X^[6] user @Takoberu2002 posting an I Need You To Distract Kang meme on May 9th, gathering over 20,000 likes in five days (seen below, left).

On May 11th, 2024, X^[7] user @TheDylanRoca posted a redraw of a scene from The Lion King showing an animated Koba threatening Simba. The post gathered over 26,000 likes in three days (seen below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

Unavailable.

External References